20 CASE STUDY
their buyers.
The project team asked itself several questions: “How would we like the drop off to work? How would we like the concierge arrival to work? How many cores are needed in the different build- ings? How many apartments should we have per landing in order to still feel boutique even though each individual is part of a development of 72 units?” Niccolò continues: “One would, for example, have thought that we would put the central reception on the Buckingham Gate side, which has the grander entrance, but we decided to put this on the Palace Street side where we were able to create a porte-cochère. Because here, we’re creating a new building and thus an arrival sequence much more akin to a high-end five-star hotel.
“From there, we looked at where the leisure facilities could be and decided to make them central to our development instead of just a forgotten room in one of the corners.”
The gym for example was positioned as such, being placed equidistant between all the facades. Particular importance was also given to
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the 20 metre pool, and the sequence of moving through the building from the car park, leisure facilities, entrance and all the way to the apartments.
CONSTRUCTION & COORDINATION With works now underway, the CEO then takes me through the current build process they are undergoing and have already undertaken, and the materials and methods they have used to accom- plish this.
As discussed, past the retention of four of the building’s facades, the 1980s fifth wing and the interior structure was demolished. The developer then began the excavation of the basement and the construction of the new interior structure. In order to start building the project more quickly, they opted for a ‘top-down’ frame construction, which allowed the basement to be formed at the same time as the above-ground structure, with the existing facades being tied in as these elements progressed. As was foreseen previously, the construction team has faced many barri- ers during this complex process, however.
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